A Colossal Weekend 2027 announces first artists: A Place To Bury Strangers, Warning, Sadness, and Antropoceno

A Colossal Weekend, which has established itself as the Nordic region’s leading festival for experimental and genre-transcending heavy music, has now released the initial bookings for its 2027 festival. From May 13–15, 2027, the event once again takes over VEGA and Basement in Copenhagen to offer yet another journey through the outer edges of music. The first four acts underline the festival’s ambition and diversity: A Place To Bury Strangers, Warning, Sadness, and Antropoceno.

Festival director and booker Jeppe Nygaard Christensen emphasizes that A Colossal Weekend aims to spotlight artists who challenge genres and create communities around music. “These first names say a lot about what A Colossal Weekend stands for. We focus on artists who push genre boundaries, but also on the unique scenes and networks that grow around them,” he points out. The first artist drop unites international heavyweights and underground phenomena, reflecting the festival’s philosophy of mixing established legends with visionary newcomers.

Over the past two decades, few bands have explored the borderland between noise rock, shoegaze, and post-punk as uncompromisingly as the American trio A Place To Bury Strangers. The New York band, led by Oliver Ackermann, is known for their intense, nearly overwhelming live performances where ear-splitting feedback, hypnotic light effects, and massive volume fuse into a total experience. Their participation sets an energetic bar and highlights the festival’s focus on innovative soundscapes.

Among the first artists, the English band Warning also stands out, one of the doom metal scene’s most mythic cult acts. The group recently returned with ‘Rituals of Shame’, their first album since the now iconic ‘Watching From A Distance’, released almost twenty years ago. During their hiatus, the band’s grief-laden, emotional sound has become an ideal in doom circles worldwide and has inspired many others. With the release of their new album, Warning cements its unique position within the genre, where sensitivity and heaviness are blended in a rare way.

Among this year’s exciting bookings is also Brazilian act Antropoceno, who operate at the crossroads of post-rock, avant-garde metal, psychedelic rock, and South American musical traditions. With elements of field recordings, ritual rhythms, and cinematic, expansive soundscapes, Antropoceno builds bridges between the primal and the futuristic. Their booking underlines the festival’s sense for artists who are truly redefining what experimental heavy music can be.

The mysterious act Sadness completes the first announcement. Led by Damián Ojeda, the project has built a global cult status over the past decade through a prolific catalog that fuses black metal, shoegaze, screamo, and sad-core. With a continually growing loyal following, Sadness has long been an underground name, but has only recently brought its unique expression to the live stage. The performance at A Colossal Weekend 2027 marks Sadness’s debut in Denmark – a long-awaited moment for both fans and curious listeners.

Together, these four artists set the bar for the festival’s continued tradition of innovative and adventurous booking. A Colossal Weekend 2027 is expected to feature around 30 acts, and already the first announcement suggests an unusually broad and deep journey: from New York’s monumental noise rock to British cult doom, to Brazilian future-oriented post-rock and mystique from internet-based underground scenes. The lineup perfectly summarizes the alternative paths the festival was founded to explore.

Since its inception in 2016, A Colossal Weekend has presented pioneering acts such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Cult of Luna, Chat Pile, Anna von Hausswolff, Russian Circles, and Deafheaven. The festival is organized by VEGA in cooperation with national and international partners, remains fully independent and is entirely non-profit. Any surplus is reinvested in artists, audiences, and the musical community for future editions.

Festival facts:

• Dates: May 13–15, 2027
• Venue: VEGA & Basement, Copenhagen
• Single-day tickets will be released in December 2026.

A Colossal Weekend remains a central meeting point for those seeking adventurous, genre-transcending heavy music – with a particular emphasis on exploring and building communities, as well as the creative possibilities of the future in the heart of Copenhagen.